Recent content by Baron Opal II

Type A: Adjusting Dice Outcome I appreciate a metacurrency that allows the player to override the dice in a limited fashion. Turning a miss into a success or a success into a critical once or twice every other session is perfect. I / we accept that the dice have a place in the development of...

1) Yes. The World Tree was a means to travel to several, but not all, of the outer planes and the Prime Material. It was similar to the Oceanus River, which connected many of the Upper Planes, and the River Styx which connected all of the Lower Planes. A major advantage was that it connected...

I find I'm actually interested, and B&W of course. It can lend a great atmosphere and it seems the director tried to take advantage of that. EtA: The rest of the sentence that was cut off.

True- stage, film, and voice acting are three closely related but not identical skill sets. I would wager she would get to audition, at least.

"Plot" is what the bad guys will or are doing. "Play" is the PCs / player's time rolling dice and passionately experiencing results. "Story" is what we do later at dinner. I dont mind if others define things differently, however.

There was a 3pp supplement that examined magical invention and innovation. It looked at different inventions and ideas from interesting theory through disastrous calamity caused by the same theory. Unfortunately I don't recall the name and I never picked it up. From what I remember it should be...

This is how I feel as well. I would also like a version of "half-trained magician" vs. "Big problem- safeties are off!" Also, I would prefer the wild stuff be somewhat thematic. I'm fine with the party having to save or be transformed into cats, but there should be some transmutative spell...

I think you mentioned 8 x 8 as an original goal. If correct, are you still looking towards that end? That would be, what, 39 more panels? Yikes.

I think so. Although, I might be thinking of Iron Heroes. One of those two.

Curses! I'm sure I would have found the continuing expression of your point of view interesting. I certainly agree that vagueness and interpretation was the order of the day in D&D, especially early on. For example: I was sure there was a rule in AD&D or OD&D that said something like "If the...

That's a good question. I would say, in the context of OD&D and AD&D, that "Thief Skills" aren't skills per se. They are the abilities tied to a specific class. Elves and halflings have abilities that can mimic Hide in Shadows and Move Silently, but they aren't the same. Or, perhaps more...

Yes, it is a package that you add to and subtract from with abandon. The mutability of D&D and Traveller are the reasons why they are my favorite games. Took me a while to realize that, actually.

I was too. "Backstab" was the original term, I believe. And it was absolutely an expression of skills. Importantly, it was the only class that had skills rather than powers. (Hide in Shadows vs. Turn Undead) No one else had skills. If anyone else wanted to do things it was a 1 in 6 chance*...

Well, no. Every skill could be useful. There are two kinds of characters- those that interact with the world physically, and those who don't. Depending on your game that could be wizards, mad scientists, psykers, ship engineers, force users, what have you. In a skill based game, like...

"Yes, but..." When writing my bespoke version it was my intent at first to have Rogues be the "Everyman" class. They were a jack-of-trades class; survival was not through skill of arms, a Patron's favor, or knowledge of the arcane, but through grit and luck. The knew things, had contacts, and...